This past Sunday I gave the church an update on a few business items going on at Normandy. Over the last few weeks we had our quarterly finance team meeting and our annual board of advisors meeting. Here are a few updates.

Finance Team Meeting:

The elders along with our finance team (Jackson Thomas & Patrick Tam) met to discuss how we are doing financially. The good news is that we are doing very well! Our church is generous and has continued to grow in giving. Also if you are interested in serving, we would love one more person on the finance team. Here are the year to date numbers:

2017 Budget $300,000

YTD Giving June - $188,736

YTD Building Fund - $347,084

Building:

We currently in the analysis stage of our building process for the space at 9090 Skillman Street. Michael Gooden, along with several other friends are helping put together some pricing so we can make the best decision possible for our church. At our BOA meeting, we were advised to hire a church building consultant to make sure we are thinking through this space. John Kaserman is taking the lead on that portion. Not only that, but we have two gracious attorneys giving us advice on the actual lease.

The next steps for us will come once we get a final cost estimate for the build out. I (John) will be out of town during this time and John Kaserman will take the lead on the building process to coordinate between all the parties involved.

House in Order - Kids Ministry:

One of the highlights of the board of advisors meeting was discussing how we've grown in kids ministry. It has gotten so much better! Justus Murimi and Sam Harvey did a wonderful job of getting our house in order. Our kids ministry has vision and structure and the volunteers have done a great job of giving time and effort to what we are doing. We are thankful!

Part of the pain of getting our kids ministry in order means that at times we have to turn kids away because we simply don't have enough space. That part flat out stinks. However with a limited number of rooms, we are maxing out. Which begs the question...

What is Next?

I joked on Sunday that I have "vision for days". I love to dream and think about all the things that could be. However I couldn't strategize my way out of a wet paper bag. When it comes to planning how to get people plugged in to the church or how to get more space for kids, I would rather dream than plan. The good news is that many of the strategic, tactical and detail orientated people in our church are rising to the occasion.

Moving Forward:

Next we are going come up with a strategic plan to move forward. Zach Garza has graciously come up with a plan that we've begun to implement. Rather than frantically try to figure out how to put out whatever "fire" is raging at the moment, we are walking through a systematic process as elders. Here is a brief overview of what we are going to do:

1) Get unified on vision and mission (done!)

2) Prioritize what is most important for the health of the church (next)

3) Figure out the "how" of our priorities

4) Implement!

That is rather simplistic but it is all the details I could bear to write (ha). We will be communicating as we get these priorities up and running.

Thank You:

There is probably more I could say, but I think this is enough for now. And there are so many people who are helping behind the scenes, I wish I could list them all here! Thank you for you generosity, your patience, you grace and your heart. We left the board and the finance team meeting very pleased with where we are as a church.